Lane Beachley

She was just looking for a bit of joy.

I can't imagine what it would be like for a woman to give birth to a child and then give it up and not be allowed to touch it or care for it, you know, after giving its life for as long as she did.

So I never took any of that into consideration.

I just was stuck in my own ego and my own fear and I just shut her out and I just went, you stay there and I'll come to you when I'm ready.

And did that, we played that, well, we danced like that together for a very long time.

Yeah, I did want him.

I don't know who we give that credit to.

I just know we both wanted to meet in person.

I know it was my idea to meet somewhere neutral.

She lived in Santa Rosa, so outside of San Francisco.

I was in Los Angeles at the time on my way home from Brazil.

So I suggested that we just meet at the airport.

And there was no question she was my mother when I laid eyes on her for the first time.

It was like looking in the mirror in 17 years.

It felt like we both had our defences up.

We both felt hurt, perhaps, based on our initial interaction with each other.

And maybe we both felt rejected by each other.

We never really conversed too much about that.

But we sat down and talked and as Mum reflected, she said it was like two girlfriends catching up.

There was a lot to catch up on and I only gave it a couple of hours.